Yelena Vladimirovna Slesarenko, née Sivushenko (; born February 28, 1982, in Volgograd) is a Russian high jumper.
In 2004 she cleared 2.04 metres to win the World Indoor Championships. Outdoors that year she won the SPAR European Cup with the same height. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal with a new national record 2.06 metres, beating the previous Olympic record, set by Stefka Kostadinova in 1996. She finished the season by winning the World Athletics Final.
Injuries kept her away from most of the 2005 season, including the 2005 World Championships.
In 2006 she won the World Indoor Championships with 2.02 metres. She finished fifth in the 2006 European Athletics Championships, failing to clear 2.00 m.
At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Slesarenko finished fourth in the women's high jump with a jump of 2.01 meters. However, in 2016 both she and her compatriot, bronze-medalist Anna Chicherova, were disqualified from this event after failing a retest of drug samples from Beijing.
Slesarenko retired in 2014. I 2022 she was disqualified for doping and her results were cancelled from 2008 onward, although she retained her 2004 Olympic gold medal. She later became a director of a winter sports academy in Volgograd, her home city.
International competitions
2002European Indoor ChampionshipsVienna, Austria5th1.90 m2003European U23 ChampionshipsBydgoszcz, Poland2nd1.96 mUniversiadeDaegu, South Korea3rd1.94 m2004World Indoor ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary1st2.04 mOlympic GamesAthens, Greece1st2.06 mWorld Athletics Final Monte Carlo, Monaco1st2.01 m2006World Indoor ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia1st2.02 mEuropean ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden5th1.99 mWorld Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany4th1.94 mWorld Cup Athens, Greece1st1.97 m2007World ChampionshipsOsaka, Japan4th2.00 mWorld Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany4th1.94 m2008World Indoor ChampionshipsValencia, Spain2nd2.01 mOlympic GamesBeijing, China — 2.01 m (4th)World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany — 1.94 m (6th)2009World ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany — 1.92 m (9th)2011World ChampionshipsDaegu, South Korea — 1.97 m (4th)DécaNationNice, France1st1.95 m
See also List of doping cases in athletics List of Olympic medalists in athletics (women) List of 2004 Summer Olympics medal winners List of IAAF World Indoor Championships medalists (women) List of high jump national champions (women) List of Russian sportspeople List of people from Volgograd Doping at the Olympic Games High jump at the Olympics
References